Author: NBTC

China’s attempt to float a central bank digital currency (CBDC) has seen it sign a handful of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with several nations, with Kazakhstan being the most recent addition to the list. Under the deal, China and Kazakhstan will jointly explore the concept of CBDCs, including retail and wholesale iterations, to improve their financial ecosystems. The historic partnership comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Kazakhstan in early July, with cross-border transactions forming the crux of high-level discussions. The agreement is expected to be the precursor for both nations to use their homegrown CBDCs for bilateral trade settlements…

Agora, a leading financial technology company, has launched its new AUSD stablecoin on the Sui platform. This strategic move will enhance the stability and functionality of digital transactions, providing users with a reliable and efficient means of conducting business in the evolving digital economy. After FDUSD, AUSD is the second stablecoin scheduled to debut on Sui. Agora’s initial offering, AUSD, spearheads the company’s endeavor to establish a worldwide financial network. Anticipated for introduction in June of this year, the stablecoin will keep its value fixed at par with the US dollar. Agora had earlier declared that AUSD would be accessible…

Zurich — Sygnum, a global digital asset banking group, has launched Sygnum Connect, the world’s first 24/7 multi-asset instant settlement network. This service facilitates settlements for fiat, digital assets, and stablecoins, catering to institutional investors, liquidity providers, stablecoin issuers, brokers, and selected exchanges, aiming to transform financial operations with efficient, on-demand liquidity.—While SWIFT has been exploring tokenization initiatives and blockchain experiments, including recent proof-of-concept (POCs) for unlocking their potential, Sygnum Bank has already achieved what SWIFT aspires to. Sygnum Connect effectively resolves the T+1 synchronization problem for thousands of institutions, significantly reducing counterparty risk and enhancing capital market efficiency. This…

In recent developments within the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin has seen a notable pattern of behavior among its holders. According to the CEO of CryptoQuant, a substantial accumulation of Bitcoin has been observed, particularly among permanent holders—custodial wallets that typically do not engage in frequent transactions. These entities have added approximately 85,000 Bitcoin to their holdings over the last 30 days, signifying a strong confidence in the long-term value of Bitcoin despite the current market volatility. This trend is especially interesting as it diverges from the activities of other major players in the space, such as ETFs and exchanges. Conversely, during…

The former CEO of Valkyrie Investments now leads a publicly traded Canadian firm seeking out opportunities across the crypto segment. Leah Wald, now the president and CEO of Cypherpunk Holdings, told Blockworks that the company’s recent decision to allocate to solana (SOL) marks an “important investment move” as it seeks to delineate trends from fads. After CoinShares acquired Valkyrie’s ETF business (including its spot bitcoin fund) in March, Wald remained at the company to oversee its private funds. She revealed on Tuesday her transition to lead Cypherpunk Holdings — a company for which she has served on the board since…

Former FTX Director of Engineering Nishad Singh and former Chief Technology Officer Gary Wang are set to be sentenced this fall in the ongoing criminal case against what was once a global crypto exchange before it collapsed in historic fashion near the end of 2022. Singh and Wang, who both pleaded guilty to criminal charges shortly after FTX fell apart, both testified against FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, testifying that they were made aware of wrongdoing at the exchange shortly before it filed for bankruptcy. Another former FTX executive, Ryan Salame, was recently sentenced to 7.5 years in…

SSV Network Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) is set to be leveraged by cluster participants to run the DVs associated with Lido (LDO), the largest liquid staking middleware solution for Ethereum (ETH). Simple DVT by SSV Network debuts on Lido: Details According to the official statement by SSV Network, a provider of ETH staking solutions for institutions and individuals, its newest Simple DVT module launches on Lido Finance, a mainstream ETH staking protocol. SSV in the house @EthCC 🤖Catch @AmMuroch sharing copious amounts of alpha about DVT <> Restaking at the @epicweb3 Restaking & Infra Day 🫡It was a blast! pic.twitter.com/uuc3M5OLRX…

Over the past week, non-fungible token (NFT) sales declined by 3.86% compared to the previous week. Leading the market, Ethereum-based NFT sales reached $32.81 million, which was approximately 10.06% lower than the previous week’s revenue. Weekly Digital Collectibles Sales Slide Following an 8% increase last week, sales of digital collectibles have declined. This week, NFT sales totaled $104.79 million, with 31.31% originating from the Ethereum blockchain. Solana ranked second, recording $21.88 million in sales, which was a 2.58% decrease from the previous week. Polygon experienced a substantial 2.08% increase, reaching $20.07 million in NFT sales. Bitcoin was the fourth largest,…

Earlier this week, BlackRock’s BUIDL crossed $500 million — a milestone never before reached by a tokenized money market fund. Tokenized funds have really taken off in the last few years, Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo told Blockworks. BlackRock and Securitize launched BUIDL earlier this year. However, only some investors can access the fund. Qualified investors with more than $5 million in assets can subscribe through Securitize. So what has led to this growth? The rise of stablecoins is definitely a factor, because it made folks think about what else could be tokenized, Domingo said. Read more: Circle debuts way to…

Ordinals developer Leonidas Leonidas, who also founded the Runestone project, believes that Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, is “almost certainly aware” of the current meme coin frenzy on the blockchain if they are still alive. “It’s crazy to think that if Satoshi is still alive he is almost certainly aware of $DOG and the new memecoin trend on his chain,” he wrote on the X social media network. Runes Protocol, which went live after Bitcoin’s halving, is a new token standard that makes it possible to issue fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. It was developed by developer…